The Future Mr Luke Gilmore
by freecityy
Summary: 5.22 continuation. LL. Luke's said yes, but they still have a lot of things to overcome. Can they get through it all before the wedding day?
1. Questions Call For Explanations

**Disclaimer**: I own season 1, 2 and 3. That is all.

**A/N**: Just another one of the many post-proposal fics that will appear in the next few months! I know it is long... but when it comes to L/L (especially when marriage is involved!) who the hell cares about it being too long? _I__ sure don't..._

I realize that this is quite fluffy -- but after that perfectly torturous ending... how could I not bring on the fluff? (Don't worry though, its not crazy-freak-out-of-character, what-the-hell-were-you-thinking fluff... that's just wrong. And ugly.)

I had an amazing time writing this... so I hope you all love it! It was originally supposed to be a one-shot piece... but maybe if I get some motivation/suggestions/help/co-writer/whatever you want to call it, then maybe I'll have an incentive to write more! ...And let the tear jerking and laughing begin:

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The Future Mr. Luke Gilmore**

_Umm..._ Luke stood still, not quite sure if his heart was still beating, "--What...?"

Lorelai gazed at him with the same look she had been giving him for the past 15 seconds, a look he's never seen before. She spoke just as softly but with slightly more confidence and said simply, "Marry me, Luke..."

_Oh... _Yup, he'd heard her alright. But still he remained freakishly silent.

Lorelai shifted nervously in her seat, "Luke... you're kind of killing my spirit here."

_She's serious..._ Luke realizes, or wonders... he's not really sure. Either way, he decides to have it as his opening line--for confirmation, "You're serious..." His voice is small and incredulous.

She was still in the chair, sitting upright, and looking right at him. Lorelai's tone did not change, it remained soft and confident... the look in her eyes was just as strong, still indefinable to Luke, "Completely..."

_Um--yeah... okay, um... Lorelai... no, why does--, wait--yes, she wants... um--. Oh my God..._ Not even his brain could form a complete sentence. The diner remained silent as he stood there, still looking at her, his eyes wide with shock and disbelief. _Wait, okay. What the hell--Am I dreaming? _Finally, a sentence!

Not having a clue to what was going on inside Luke's head, Lorelai was utterly freaked out. She was scared, and Luke's sudden Marcel Marceau impersonation was not helping.

She broke eye contact with him for the first time, and embarrassedly shrugged away as she stood up, "Okay, um... do you need a, umm... minute or... yeah I'll just--" Lorelai slowly gave him a last look, her eyes pleading with him to _say something_. But he remained silent, still paralyzed from the heart-attack size shock he had just been hit with.

_Okay, this would never happen in my dream... _Another sentence! We're makin' progress here! ...But Lorelai was already turned in the direction of the door.

"Lorelai, stop," he said. Luke took a step towards her and placed a hand on her hip, turning her to face him. He took a deep breath, looking at her directly in the eyes, "You want to... marry me?"

_Ok, well that's a step. At least I know can touch me..._ (Heh, dirty)... _without running away screaming_... (She added), but Lorelai was in no mood for joking right now. She didn't even want to think of some sarcastic remark or an inappropriate joke. _You can do this, Lorelai. You want this... here he is._

"I want to marry you, Luke... more than anything."

_You have to ask her, man... you shouldn't be accepting her proposal--even if its what you both want more than anything--if it's in any way because of... other people's actions, _Luke though, referring to Rory and the dreaded Elder Gilmores. He looked at her wide-eyed and asked softly, "But... why?"

She was too caught up in him, in what she had just done and how excited she was to start the rest of her life right now... that it hadn't really occurred to Lorelai that her timing kind of sucked. Luke, still believing that he wasn't good enough for the beautiful woman standing before him, and always being so damn modest, thought that she was seeking comfort and security in him during her sudden falling out with Rory and her parents.

But she was not even thinking of them right now--her only incentive for this impromptu proposal was that she wanted to spend the rest of her life this man before her. And it was as simple as that. Lorelai, however, needed to _elaborate_ a bit, as she tended to whenever she got passionate about a certain special subject... always taking the most... verbose route.

She took both of his hands in hers and held them to her abdomen. She kept a safe foot or so of room between them, never breaking eye contact, "I need you Luke, more than anything. I know--this is it now. I've waited for this for such a long time... probably for the majority of my life... the whole package. You and I are it."

He was nervous, he was excited, he was enamored, he was breathless, he was going insane... he was a million things--_the classic schizophrenic._ But despite all this, he was some how able to pull himself together... he was able to keep the most intense eye contact with this woman, more intense than ever before.

Luke squeezed her hands slightly. _Still just making sure its not a dream_, he admitted silently. Some how with only that, she got him to temporarily forget the reason behind the need to ask 'why?' earlier.

That slight contraction of muscles in Luke's hand around hers gave Lorelai all the reassurance she needed. "You are my one constant, Luke. You have already given me everything I have ever needed..." she pauses briefly, swallowing the slight lump that had formed in her throat, "...strength, hope, encouragement... love... and then of course there's the coffee and burgers you pretend to hate supplying me..."

For the first time, Luke's facial expression relaxed... no longer looking at her in complete disbelief. Noticing this, Lorelai smiled back shyly before continuing, "You've been my friend--my best friend--my partner, protector... everything. You are all those things to me, and I have never had someone stick by me through everything the way you have..."

The way Luke was staring at Lorelai made her suddenly very nervous._ Where the hell did that come, you were fine 2 seconds ago!_ She looked down and weakly gave an uneasy laugh, "I swear, its like we've been married for 50 years already..." She could feel the tears forming.

His eyes could not possibly get any wider, and his jaw hanged loosly, forming a small dark space between his lips. Luke, so entranced by her... everything... could only continue gazing, not giving a damn if he looked like a complete moron doing so.

Lorelai took another deep inhale before looking back up. And when she did, Luke's heart broke with the sight of her glimmering eyes, tears filling them, threatening to spill over.

"We've been through so much together, you've been there for me when I've needed someone the most. You've never once given up on me, Luke... I probably don't thank you enough for that," she says the last part quietly, almost to herself, before speaking to him again, "I can never imagine any other man... You're it for me, Luke."

She examined him, making sure he was still with her, _God he looks freaked..._ After drawing in one last breath, she finished her little speech (its length competing with that of Howard Roark's 40-page testimony), "And nothing would make me happier than to marry my best--" her voice hitches for a moment, "--my best friend..." finally, the tears finally fell, but Luke extended one of his hands to her face and brushed them off.

She lets out a small laugh and closed her eyes, "Oh God, I'm totally ripping off a scene from _Friends_ right now..."

"I don't think they'll mind," he said quietly, speaking for the first time since she started her long, long speech.

Lorelai opened her eyes and smiled slightly, but then turned serious once again. She wanted him to understand, she needed him to understand... so she spoke lucidly, "In case you didn't get it from before and you wanted the Cliffnote's version... I love you Luke. I am so completely and absolutely in love with you it scares me--it scares me because... because I don't know how I could even function without you in my life, literally--with the coffee and the burgers and the sex and whatnot..." Lorelai threw, attempting to lighten the intense mood.

"...But knowing that I love you more than any other human being I've ever known in my life... I mean right now--let me tell you--you're just about head and head with Rory, Mister... and that makes me so unbelievably happy. Just knowing that you are the only man that has ever made me feel like this... that _can_ ever make me feel this way... it's just the most amazing feeling."

_So I guess I'm not dreaming... I'm not this imaginative. Geez and I didn't even think she wanted to move in with me... well, I guess she feels about the same way, _Luke thought sarcastically, but then sincerely added _... How the hell did I get this lucky...? _Luke slightly interrupted his potential thinking rant though by taking in a sharp breath.

After the silence from him, _Maybe it was just a brain rant moment for him..._, and then with the jagged breath he just took, a worried look appeared on Lorelai's face, "Luke... tell me what you're thinking."

"I'm thinking that... I'm just... I wanted to propose." _Why did you just say that, Luke? Now she's going to think you're pissed off._

Lorelai's face fell, but just ever so slightly, "Oh... are you upset?"

_Told you,_ Luke thought.

"No, no... what I meant was that I've been thinking about it--I was planning on it--proposing that is... I even bought you a--" Now it was Luke's turn to talk, but he paused dramatically, and lowered his voice to a whisper, just barely audible to Lorelai, "a house..."

_What did he say? _"You bought me a mouse?"

Luke only rolled his eyes at his own insecurity. _Just say it Luke, obviously, if she can say all that, you can at least admit you bought her a house for you all to live in... us all?_ Shaking this thought from his head he casually dropped her hands and took a step back. He ran a hand through his hair before speaking loudly, "A house, Lorelai. I bought the old Twickham house..." He waved his hands for a little emphasis with each 'house' he said. _See, that wasn't so hard..._

_Woah. Okay, um, wow. _Lorelai was a little taken aback first--not negatively, just... she was surprised--she knew full well that he _must_ have been thinking about their future for a while... _Well, I knowww that's a fact now. _She corrected.

Lorelai smiled sweetly at him, "You did?"

"Well, I was... I mean, I did, but then--well after our talk at the Inn today, when I ran away to fix the window... I didn't think that--because you didn't seem that sure on turning down the job offer my that Armsbald guy--"

"Armstrong" Lorelai corrected quietly.

"Armstrong, right. But after that, I thought you didn't want it all and here I was with a house that would probably just sit and waste away--probably grow some gross mold or something--so I backed out! Yeah, um--Well, I just thought that you... didn't want what I wanted to share with you--a life, home... family," Luke paused, realizing that this was the first time he had admitted out loud, to Lorelai, that he wanted a family with her. After only a brief moment, he quickly went on, "Well, with the job offer and the traveling and then with the 'mulling'..." Luke's voice faded as he saw her developing reaction.

Lorelai felt her stomach drop a bit when she heard that he had thought she didn't want to share a home with him, a family... But despite the huge display of domesticity that Luke was displaying... _He wants to live with me! Despite my freak coffee habits... and weird uses for the stove that I have grown so accustomed to... _Another thought entered her mind. The realization hit as if she were the roadrunner... that is, if 'realization' was metaphorically thought of as a giant ACME anvil.

Closing her eyes, Lorelai sighed in frustration with herself, "the kids..."

"Yeah, the kids..." he confirmed almost apologetically.

"The kids," _just making sure he's saying what I think he is_, "our kids... our potential... kids. Wow, I um--I didn't think you wanted kids..." Lorelai said, shrugging.

Luke cleared his throat and did something either of them rarely did: he brought up one of their most meaningful pre-romance 'moments': "Lorelai... I told you years ago, that if one day I'd met the right person... it'd be a discussion."

She had thought about that little talk of theirs more than once after that long, long 24 hours... But Lorelai continued to stare at him, her heart racing, and emotions going crazy inside of her. Her face now held the same shocked expression he had when she first popped the question. Part of her wanted so badly to grab him and kiss him and get goin' on the baby train--however... her more controlled part made her remain silent, just gripping his hand as she reveled in it all.

"Remember? ...At the dance marathon?" He waited for her response.

But there was only silence.

_Oh common' now... of course you know what I'm talking about, _Luke thought and then spoke, "Sitting on the bleachers... With the fixing of the shoe... And the glue?"

"Luke, Luke... I remember. I just--wow..." a broad smile forms on her lips. But then suddenly the smile was suppressed unsuccessfully, trying to regain composure instead of looking like a ditzy sixteen-year-old girl, "I just don't think you remember."

"Umm, Lorelai did you not just hear--"

"Clearly Mister, you don't seem to remember that I said it too... 'if I found the right person, kids would be... nice'."

_Ah geez, how the hell could I forget that right now? Of course, the stupid God's are conspiring against you, Luke! ...I only let myself think about that little conversation every time she walked through the door, post-Dance Marathon _(aka Luke's personal hell... well, that is, if Lorelai hadn't been there)_, and even after that I probably only thought about it every other day... _"I remember, Lorelai..." Luke said smiling.

And there they stood, in the middle of the diner, filled with so many emotions that there was no word capable of describing their current selves.

If this had been any other day, it would be nothing other than another visit from a crazy, quick-witted, free-spirited woman looking for her coffee fix from the man of her dreams... a grumpy, lettuce and broccoli loving, but incredibly handsome lumber jack looking diner man, who loved her just the same.

But this was not _just _any other day. They were both lost in the same thoughts; both were going over the checklists in their heads; and of course all of this was done while gazing into each other eyes and smiling like royal idiots (_Royal idiots in loveeee_, Lorelai added in a sing-song tune). Each individual's checklist was practically identical to the other's: _Lorelai proposed, she expressed all the love and appreciation and desire she's ever felt for him, Luke said he wanted to propose, Luke bought a house, Luke wants kids, Luke thought he was alone on that one, but Lorelai wants kids, too... when they found the right person. And they want kids now... and they are talking about marriage now... So, they've found the right person?_

Once again, those damn nerves seemed to sneak under her Wonderwoman super-suit. Lorelai inhaled slowly and deeply, trying to get rid of a few so she could speak without sounding like a shaking idiot.

Deciding to be the courageous one tonight, Lorelai broke the silence--she took a step towards him and grabbed his hand with one of hers, immediately lacing her fingers through his.

She smiled shyly and spoke softly. "So... right person?" she whispered while pointing a finger at her chest.

Luke gave her hand a gentle squeeze, a wide grin gracefully forming. _Oh God, that grin of his--when he shows his teeth... right there, _Lorelai thought, displaying her tendency to become perfectly inarticulate at the sight of Luke like this.

He then nodded, the smile on his face growing wider and wider. He spoke just as softly and sweetly as she had, while still expertly maintaining his manly and rugged Lukeness, and copied her actions. "Right person?" he said, pointing to his on chest this time.

Lorelai's eyes were glistening with tears, "Perfect person," she confirmed, a smile glowing on her lips.

The gazing going on between the two was that intense "Luke and Lorelai stare" that every romantic is envious of. Lorelai removed her hand from Luke's and placed both of them on his upper arms, digging her nails into his flannel slightly. Luke left his hands where Lorelai had previously held them, placing his palms flat on her stomach, wrapping his fingers slightly around the curves in her hips.

"So... do I have to ask you again?" Lorelai smiled flirtatiously, now much closer to him.

But before Luke could accept anything, he needed restate his first question--not 'what', but 'why'--making sure Lorelai understood the real meaning of this 'why' this time... "Lorelai, I need to know--are you asking me this now because of everything... that has, um... happened tonight with Rory and your parents...?"

And now she felt like a complete jerk for ignoring the fact, for being so insensitive, and above all for her horrible, horrible timing.

"Oh no, no, Luke..." she whispered. Lorelai looked down at her pink pumps, slightly moving her hands to rest on the center of Luke's chest, then pressing her forehead against the backs of them. She took a deep intake of breath and shook her head, as if trying to say no to Luke's question... and also chastising herself for her sucky, sucky timing.

She looked up at him and spoke as slowly and meaningfully as possible, "Luke, everything I said earlier... exactly how much you mean to me, everything you are to me... It's just--when you were talking, pacing and freaking out, you reminded me once again how much I trust you, believe in you--in us... You are always with me in everything, you have never given up on me and I can never give up on you... and I'm sure as hell not going to give up on us now."

She pushed away from him slightly, getting more passionate in what she was trying to convey, "I mean, it is so absolutely inconvenient that all this had to happen now, right when I'm realizing it, but when you were talking I just could not imagine my life with anyone but you... having any other man want to steal Rory and drive her to and from school every day, twice a day, even if she is 20 years old... or have any other man snoring _annoyingly_ loud next to me in bed while they're sleeping and I'm trying to watch my Jon Stewart... I could never imagine any other oh-so-masculent man baking me cookies and pies, while bitching about how they will make my teeth brown... and I could never in a billion years see one other man taking my kids--our kids--to school or to the park or..."

Lorelai now had tears rolling one by one down her cheeks,... and unbeknownst to her, had been pacing back and forth in front of him as she ranted for the past minute or two... "While you were talking I realized you're it for me Luke, I love you, and I need you. I just--I've never been more than now ..."

Lorelai stopped pacing and turned to face him, looking directly into his eyes, "There's no other reason for why I asked you... other than me finally realizing how absolutely perfect you are for me... the whole perfect package."

_Good answer... _Luke cleared his throat rubbed his clammy hands on his jeans. He was going to remain silent, maybe try to think of a good joke or something, get the banter 'a flowin'... but he quickly changed his mind and took one giant step towards her, closing the space between them.

_Oh, that's right, he better get over here after I said--_ But Luke cut off her train of thought as he wrapped his arms tightly around her torso, almost lifting her up a bit, and kissed her with so much passion that she instantly felt light-headed and her stomach tingle with warmth and butterflys. Lorelai threw one arm around his neck, playing with the curls of his hair that poked up from under his hat, and she placed the other on his cheek, bringing him as close as possible to her. Lorelai was so overwhelmed that she just melted into him, allowing her lips to follow his as the teased hers. Finally regaining some control, she focused on his bottom lip, knowing it would drive him insane, slightly nipping at it.

But when oxygen became necessary for Luke, their lips slowly parted. Their bodies had not moved and were still molded together. Luke still had his arms securely around her torso, still holding her up slightly... But lucky for him she had her 4-inch Jimmy Choo's on, so not much lifting was required.

Lorelai, who's lungs were _clearly_ in much better shape than Luke's, was smiling brightly, not at all out of breath. Luke leaned his forehead against hers while he panted softly. She firmly pressed her hips into him as she leaned her upper body back a bit, being supported by Luke's hands still around her. She smiled brightly at himwith a hopeful sparkle in her eyes, as she saw her little hip teasing ploy create a dark and passionate look in his eyes, turning them a deep indigo.

"Well... that was... something!" Lorelai laughed as she spoke, and thought... _Would that be a yes then?_

Luke's breathing had slowed, the indigo color in his eyes lightened to their normal beautiful crystal blue color slowly, but a playful look on his face remained, "So... are you gonna ask me again or should I do it this time?" His voice came out deep and husky... Lorelai loved it when he spoke like this to her. _Ooh, sexy, bedroom voice Luke!_ she thought as she wondered if engagement sex was just as good as makeup sex...

She grinned at him, "Heyyy Luke..." She swayed her hips a little, causing his to do the same.

"Yes Lorelai?" He said nonchalantly, pretending as if he knew not what was coming.

She put his hands flat on his chest, and slightly tip toed in her Jimmy Choo's so that their eyes were level. She brought her face closer to his and she whispered softly, so only he could hear her (although there was no one else in the diner, she wanted it to be as personal as possible...), "Will you marry me, Luke?"

"Yes, Lorelai... I'll marry you," he whispered just as softly.

Lorelai kissed him square on the lips, making it last only a few seconds, but making him go crazy as she ran her tongue over his bottom lip before pulling away.

"Good!" she said as she grinned, knowing full well she was being a tease.

But Luke didn't falter. He continued smiling as he suddenly said, "Good, now my turn."

"You're turn? I didn't know there were turns!"

Luke loosened his grip around her, letting his hands slip down her sides before instructing her, "Okay, wait here. Count to 10... and cover your eyes. I mean it, don't look!" And just ask quickly as he had shot out the confusing statement, he was gone out of the diner and up the stairs, where Lorelai heard him open the door to his apartment.

_Okay, I need to sit down, now... _And that she did. She planted her butt right on the closest stool, placing her elbow on the counter and resting her chin atop her fist. _Hmm, what the hell was that? I'm confused now... _Just then she heard the door to his apartment door close and she immediately covered her eyes and began counting out loud... "Oh--uh, 8... 9... 10! Okay Luke I've counted, I haven't peeked, now can I open?"

"Yup, go ahead."

He was standing in front of her, his hands shoved in his back pockets... looking a little shy and just a little flushed, his cheeks were red... _Maybe its all the kissing and love declarations that are getting to him!_ Lorelai thought.

Luke pulled his right hand out from behind his back, where it _pretended_ to be in his pocket, and held it just a bit in front of him, revealing it to her... between his thumb and middle finger was a square, dark chocolate colored box, with subtle gold etching around the sides for detail.

"Wow... so you really did plan on proposing..." Lorelai spoke. She had heard him say he was planning on proposing... but she couldn't actually believe it until this moment.

"Lorelai... Listen to me," Luke's voice was a hybrid of tones: hopeful, calm, anxious, determined, confident... he took a step towards where she sat on the stool, and she slightly spread her knees, allowing him to move in between her legs to get closer to her, "You really are the most amazing woman I have ever met... You can do anything you set your mind to, and you have no idea how inspiring that is. I love everything about you... the way you have named every stupid inanimate object in here, upstairs, in your house... the way you sing Margaritaville in the shower pretending to annoy me, but really you do it because you know I how much love your voice... I love the way you have built your own business all on your own, how you've raised such an amazing daughter... who, right now, is having a _few_ setbacks, but we'll fix that... the way you always seem to taste like coffee... even after you've brushed your teeth..." he paused before shrugging and smiling thoughtfully, "I am just so in love with you..."

Luke examined her before continuing, and right now she looked at him as though he was Brad Pitt telling her all these things... she was in a complete trance with his words, "I want to spend the rest of my life with you. And all I want to do is to try to make you as happy as you've made me in the past 9 years."

Luke open the box and looked at the ring for just a moment while speaking, "So, Lorelai..." he looked up at her again and turned the box around so she could see. Lorelai's eyes widened and a loving smile tugged at one corner of her lips... a tear slipped down her cheek.

She wrapped her legs around Luke's, crossing them at her ankles, and let them hang loosly around the back of Luke's calves. She placed her both her hands on his forearms as he spoke again, "Since _you_ asked first, I'm not going to steal your show" he smiled broadly at this, teasing her, "--I guess, though, that I needed to give you just a little preview... well actually full viewing... of what I would have said..."

Luke gently removed the ring from the box as he took her left hand in his, and then slid the ring on her finger as he spoke softly and lovingly, with complete assurance, "You Miss Gilmore, are the only woman I want to marry."

Lorelai watched his hand slide over her wrist as he slid the beautiful diamond ring on her finger (_Hey, now that's a big rock!_ she thought happily). Through blurred eyes she looked up at him and placed her hands on both his cheeks, gazing in to his eyes and laughing softly. She brushed her lips against his, softly at first, then deepened the kiss as she moved her hands down his chest and under his arms, until she wrapped them securely around his torso. Luke, meanwhile, had his hands in his hair, grazing fingers along her hairline on the back of her neck.

After a moment, Lorelai pulled back gently, their lips still barely touching. "That was one hell of a speech, Mr. Danes," she whispered against his lips.

She kissed him hard again, smiling against his lips, and spoke each word through short kisses, "The ring (kiss) is (kiss) beautiful (kiss) Lu--"

But Luke stopped her, and held her head in place as he kissed her softly in reply, laughing as he mumbled "Ank yoo" against her lips. He pulled her into a bear hug then, moving as close into her as possible... causing Lorelai wrap her legs tighter around him, now around the back of his thighs (much to both of their delights).

Her cheek rested on his shoulder, her face against his neck. She brushed her lips against his neck, teasing him and tickling him--_Okay... we seriously need to get upstairs right now or else I'll have a safety and health violation to deal with in here!_ he thought, reffering to their current somewhat public positioning in the diner... but didn't dare move, wanting to enjoy this moment for a bit longer.

"So are you going to take my last name then?" she whispered, her warm breath sending a nice tingly feeling all through his body.

He laughed, "Oh yeah, I'm going to become Mr. Luke Gilmore..."

"Hmm," she sighed, "Nope, you're much too good to be a Gilmore... just keep it Luke Danes..." she paused for a moment before announcing to him, in a slightly louder tone, with a hint of a southern accent, _Why the Southern? I have no idea..._ Lorelai thought, "I want to do the name changin' for this marriage!" Lorelai chuckled softly, almost vibrating her throat against his chest.

He looked down at her and kissed her temple, leaving his lips there for a moment, then moving an inch down to her ear and whispered, "We're getting married..." _I just need to make sure this isn't a dream! _Luke told himself...

She shifted upwards and kissed him in the most tender and loving way she could, slightly pressing her tongue to lips. When she pulled back she looked at him in the eyes and smiled, "We're getting married..." she whispered.

He pulled her in again, thinking it would last like the last hug, but she had other thoughts. She squeezed him hard, grunting playfully, before pushing him back slightly and hoping off the stool. She grabbed his hand and started towards the stairs, "Enough with the politeness, buddy! Let's go upstairs and see if engagement sex _is_ just as yummy as makeup sex..."

He laughed loudly, shaking his head._ Well, this will be one hell of an engagement..._ he thought, grinning like an idiot, as he was dragged up to his apartment to be... loved--by the one and only future Mrs. Lorelai Danes...

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**Be a doll and leave me a review, will ya? Praise me, yell at me, hate me, love me--whatever you want! Just leave me a note, thanks.**


	2. Pillow Talk Makes Them Smile

**Disclaimer**: Just borrowing.

**A/N**: WOW! I am so overwhelmed by the reviews I got. I was so worried the fluffiness would blind you or something. No really, I love the fluffy... so here it goes again! I tried to add the occasional smart-ass comment here and there to loosen it up, though. I had originally planned on adding much more to this, but I thought _Hey, lets give the people what they want--give 'em another chapter already! _So you asked for it, and I split the chapter in two. It flowed a bit better that way anyways. And I promise it will be up soon. This chapter does have importance to it! So don't just think it's a bit of a filler chapter. No, no... Luke and Lorelai talking time--in bed--_alwaysss_ has importance. Just you wait...

Thank you again to everyone who reviewed. You each individually pushed me to speed up the writing process! And I want to specially thank **Susi** and **Ali** for your massive, massive support and advice. You girls are freakin' amazing.

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**Ch. 2: Pillow Talk Makes Them Smile**

"Now _that's_ what I call primordial," Lorelai sighed as she plopped down on the pillow next to Luke, wiping at the beads of sweat that had formed on her chest.

The apartment was dark, only streaks of light were cast upon the ceiling as they slipped in from the street. The only sounds were the sporadic creaks of the bed and ragged breathing from the two on said bed.

Luke was on his back, propped up by the three pillows behind him, with an arm around Lorelai's shoulder. He sighed deeply and kissed her hair, a lazy grin appearing on his face, "To say the very least...''

Lorelai laughed and tilted her head up to him, "So what's the consensus?''

Luke surrendered. "Engagement sex _is_ better than makeup sex..." he said, rolling his eyes. He couldn't help but laugh, though.

"Told you," she said, kissing him squarely on the lips. "We should get engaged more often!''

Even with the minimal light, Lorelai could see Luke raise an eyebrow at her questioningly, so she defended her proposition, "I mean, to each other of course... I'm pretty positive that I couldn't have that primordial of a sexual post-engagement romp with just any other guy..." but this only caused Luke's relaxed eyebrow to shoot up and join the other, "Not pretty positive--I meant, positive, absolutely 100--no! 1000 positive! ...Not that I am thinking of getting engaged to anyone else... or imagining any primordial sex-capades with any other man..." she said it all so quickly that she felt like she deserved a slap upside the head, but she refrained from doing so.

_Oh damn, damn, damn my stupid, uncontrollable mouth... well, except for the proposal, which was partly done by my uncontrollable mouth, but that turned out pretty freakin' well..._ Deciding that she was already past done, and knowing that he must have understood that it was just another quirky ways of telling him how happy she is about all this, Lorelai sheepishly smiled and stuck her hand out in front of them, "Did I tell you how much I _love_ my ring?" It came out lamely, but she meant it to be genuine, even if it was partly a tactic to get her out of her little mess of a rant she had worked herself into.

Luke's eyebrows relaxed and he smirked as he tightened his arm around her. He ran his fingers up and down her arm, causing Lorelai to shiver.

"Lorelai, I knew what you meant..." she glanced up at him and kissed him right under his ear, before gazing back down at his hand playing with hers, his fingers paying special attention to her ring finger.

"It looks good," he agreed, trying as hard as he could to conceal the ridiculous grin he was previously displaying.

"Oh come on--it looks better than good," she said, slapping his chest playfully.

Luke brought her hand up, his fingers still intertwined with hers, and kissed it. "It looks perfect," he whispered to her, as she gazed up to him. If Lorelai's cheeks were hurting her because of the never-ending smile she'd had plastered across her face for the past three hours, the pain was sure as hell not showing.

Lorelai rolled slightly further onto Luke's chest, throwing her leg completely over his body, and smiled into his chest, kissing him repeatedly as she made her way up his collarbone, to neck, along his jaw line, finally arriving at his mouth. She left one last lingering kiss on his lips before she pulled away quickly, pushing off his shoulders, "That's it mister... we should go to bed!''

"Lorelai!" Luke said, exasperated.

Lorelai slumped across him, her hips were practically on his upper chest, and she began to fiddle with the alarm clock on his bedside table as she rambled on to herself, "It's practically two in the morning and we gotta be up in three and a half hours... oh man, am I gonna look like hell tomorrow--although what do they say about the after-glow thing newly engaged women get...? That might help with the bags under the eyes..." Luke, knowing perfectly well that he in no way was going to be getting up at his usual time, simply smiled at her attempt to be responsible at such an obscure time, not to mention while being in such a compromising position. Luke pulled her back and slid her gently down his chest so that she was level with his gaze.

"But Luke," she explained in a concerned voice, "it's 1:58 a.m. and you need we need to get up because if we don--" but Luke cut her off, leaving her with a look of disbelief.

Luke feigned agitation. "Lorelai! We," pointing between them, "just got engaged. Right?" he asked her in a playful, yet authoritative, voice.

Lorelai rolled her eyes and answered, "Yes but what about--" but Luke cut her off again.

"_Okay_, so don't you think that we deserve a little alone time, away from the diner and the inn so we can… be together… alone?" Luke smiled suggestively at the last part, and couldn't help but blush a bit at his insinuation, remembering the past three hours of time they'd spent... alone... together... in bed.

A wide smile replaced her previous look of confusion, "Why sir, you are absolutely right! How silly of me to put forth the needs of those in this town before our own… those who expect and pay generously for our services. Especially when we hath just exchanged promises of love and life and ho--" but Luke, once again, cut her off, _How dare he!_ She thought.

He kissed her lightly on the lips, before telling her to shut up and reminding her, "For the record, that was extremely dirty on several different levels."

She gasped. "_Ohh_, you're right... I know how you get when I talk about the townies in one of my wacky double entendres, especially when we're naked," she said with a cheeky grin. She laughed into his chest as she rolled off him and into his outstretched arm, still leaving one leg loosely around his stomach.

The two of them laid in silence for a good ten minutes... their breathing returned to normal, creating a smooth hum that filled the room. Luke's eyes were closed and a soft smile played on his lips. He wasn't asleep, but in his head he was watching Lorelai in a beautiful off-white, strapless dress. She was holding hands with him, who was smiling like an idiot in a _stupid penguin suit_, (_Which actually does not look half bad on me, I gotta say_)... and they were standing together under her--their--Chuppah. The short clip was on repeat in his head... playing over and over again. He just couldn't get enough of it.

Lorelai's demeanor, however, had changed within the past few moments. Her eyes--full of hope and passion and love, lips smiling like there was no tomorrow--now focused sternly on the window in front of the bed. They were now narrowed, her lips pursed tightly. She felt slightly confused, a little angered, and a whole lot of upset. _Not at Luke, of course, if anything he made me forget it all for a while... God knows where I'd be right now if it weren't for him. But--...what am I going to do with her..._ She thought, before whispering, "Luke..."

His eyes fluttered open (_Oh, so masculine, Danes,_ he thought mockingly) and he placed his free hand, the one that had not already been claimed by Lorelai's back, on her flat stomach. "Hmm," he murmured back, still enjoying the picture of them, which he presumed to be their wedding day_, No. We just like to dress up like that and stand under a blossom covered Chuppah for fun!_ He couldn't help but laugh inwardly at his lame sarcasm.

Lorelai sighed heavily, "Am I a bad mother for not wanting to tell my daughter about the engagement right now..." Her eyes fixated on the window as she spoke, but then gradually traveled to Luke's face when he did not respond immediately.

"You, Lorelai," he said gently, cupping one of her cheeks, "are the world's best mom. I'm serious... You're just going through a rough time with Rory, though. And after what she's gone and done... the boat--with that punk," Luke gritted his teeth at this, "…and Yale, and moving out… it's completely understandable that you wouldn't want to tell her right now..." He paused and worked his jaw from one side to the other subtly, thinking about how to phrase his next question. He always thought Rory had liked the idea of him and Lorelai… he did keep her in coffee, after all. But he couldn't help but wonder… "Do you not want to tell her because you are angry with her... or because you think she'll be mad at you because of… this?" he asked timidly, trying hard to hide his insecurities.

Lorelai sighed, "Because I'm angry with her, Luke, that's all," she said surly, "Obviously she doesn't want to listen to what I have to say, so why should I tell her about this right now?" There was no need for Luke to reply; he knew her love for the rhetorical question. He simply nodded and ran his hand soothingly across over her hip. _What if Rory is mad though... I could never live with myself knowing that she didn't--approve...--of the idea of Lorelai and I getting married._ Lorelai continued, interrupting his thought, "Of course I want to tell her… and its not like I'm keeping it from her just to spite her or anything. I just don't want her to say something she'll regret later just to hurt me." Lorelai sighed once more before continuing, "She won't mean it—she couldn't and she knows that too. But I just don't want to take that chance knowing it will always have been her first reaction to this…" She didn't want Luke to worry, _Rory loves him, she always has and I'm probably just making up things in my head now about her new crazy persona she's taken on…_ Deciding it was time to reassure him, she added, "This wonderful, fantastic, absolutely mind blowing thing we have here."

Luke, whose forehead had become slightly creased from worrying about her real incentive for not telling Rory, relaxed at this and kissed her hair, leaving his mouth to rest there as she spoke again.

"And just so you know Luke, Rory has always thought of you as a father figure in her life... she would be so happy for us--I know that much. It's probably the only thing I'm sure of about that girl right now..."

Luke kissed her temple this time, brushing his lips against her skin, as Lorelai snuggled further into the crook of his arm. "Thank you," he said softly.

"No, thank you, hun," she said, her lips curving up into a crooked smile, as nuzzled closer to him, if that even was possible.

Luke knew she didn't want to be going into this right now. He also knew the subject would be a fragile one for a while, and he didn't want her to have to deal with that tonight--or this morning, rather--so he attempted to reassure her one last time before she _really_ closed the topic, "Don't worry, Rory will come around. Deep down she knows what's best--she'll remember all of the things you've done for her, everything you've taught her, instilled in her... everything you've given her. It'll all knock some sense into her sooner or later, and she'll come back to you," At this, Lorelai took his hand that was drawing circles on her stomach and intertwined her fingers with his, as if trying to act out a thank you, _That man does loveee his actions--oh, dirty_! And she smiled even more at that.

Luke knew he had done his job: he'd reassured the Wonderwoman he loved so much, _Not an easy feet, _he told himself. Maybe he had spoken a _bit_ too soon, though.

"You're right, I know she'll come home... and who knows, maybe a little separation is what we need..." she knew it wasn't true in the long run, but maybe it was just a little temporary statement she would have to say to convince herself not to force her back--or maybe it was just the anger talking, "At least it's what I need because I'm so pissed at her who knows what I'd say or do..." she mumbled it all under her breath, playing it off as a joke. But Luke knew better.

He knew she didn't mean it, _Well, maybe she did mean it a little--I know I'd be yelling and… probably dressed all in black with gloves and masks, I bet…helping Lorelai pull Rory into a van and speeding her off into the night back to Sanityville... well as sane as Stars Hollow can get compared to Hartford._ Luke decided to lighten the mood, hoping it would tide Lorelai over until the next time they were to talk about the Rory incident, "But if Rory it taking a little longer than you'd like, the chemical imbalance slash kidnapping idea will work," he said half-kidding.

Lorelai, wrapping her hand around the opposite side of his neck, kissed the side facing her lovingly, gently pressing her tongue to his skin... before sliding up and whispering into his ear, "I am so in love with you," and then kissed him again just below ear. She leaned up once more and said, "Goodnight Mr. Danes...''

Luke, who had been in heaven for the past minute--_What the hell am I talking about, I'm still there!_--had his eyes closed, a indescribable smile splayed across his face. "Goodnight Ms. Gilmore," he responded softly.

"Ms. Gilmore… soon to be Mrs. Danes," she said yawning quietly, before adding in a slightly shocked tone, "Woah... 'mrs.' makes me seem so old...''

Luke, eyes still closed and the grin still splayed, laughed lightly at this, "You could never be old, Lorelai... inside or out," he said pointedly.

"Aww, babe, that's so sweet." Lorelai lightly patted his cheek playfully, "Look at you trying to make me forget that I'm pushin' 40...''

Luke was starting to drift off to sleep, wanting the repeating five-second clip of the two of them under the Chuppah to develop into more, knowing it would come with sleep. "Yeah, well, that's what boyfriends are supposed to do," he said yawning.

Lorelai, too, was then drifting... she had been so emotionally and physically drained for the past few hours... but she wasn't about to complain. _Well, I could have lived without the draining from Rory, but Luke on the other hand... I'll take that kind of emotional and physical draining any day..._"Fiancées, Luke." she corrected him, stifling a yawn of her own. She understood though… she could hardly believe it herself.

"Yup, fiancés," he finally said, the right corner of his mouth shooting up one final time, before he slid his arm around her even further… as she centered all the energy she had left in her to tighten her leg around his thigh. It was the last thing either of them said before quickly falling into deep, deep sleeps... both happily catching the full viewing of the preview Luke had in his mind earlier.

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**Reviews do make the world go 'round. So leave me one--because they also make me write faster...**


	3. One Sunny Morning

**Disclaimer:** Nothing is legally mine. Sucks, doesn't it?

**A/N:** It took me a LONG time to update, so sorry about that! Hope it was worth the wait. This chapter was originally joined with chapter 4, but I thought I'd split 'em up. Seemed to, just, flow better. So now you get TWO new chapters! (That one will be up by tomorrow, promise!) Be happy.

Thanks to **Ali** for her amazing guidance. And of course to all my fellow **JJ's**, especially at the LL love thread on for their undying devotion and constant inspiration.

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**Ch. 3: Sunny Morning (in the Middle of May)**

The apartment was sunny. Yes, Luke's apartment was sunny. Not only was it due to the sun shining brightly outside on the beautiful day in the middle of May… but in bed were two reformed individuals: completely tangled, arms and limbs and hearts, together.

Luke, the grumpy man that he is, had let his guard down, finally—he had finally allowed someone to see him at his most vulnerable, finally expressed everything he'd ever wanted but didn't have, finally told a certain brunette that he was in love with her, finally lived the dream he had dreamed nearly every night for the past nine years—and that made him damn happy. He didn't care if it all still scared the crap out of him, but the difference was that now the fear thrilled him, too. The thrill had convinced him that he wasn't about to let the fear suppress him from the truth again. She was in, he was in… they were in together forever. _So we're rhyming now, are we, Danes… the things this woman does to you… oh, whatever._ That's all that mattered.

Lorelai, the bubbly woman that she is, had let her guard down too, finally—she had finally let someone be a real father to her Rory, finally decided what she truly wanted and went for it, she finally told a man she was madly in love with him, she was finally staying right where she was and not run—and that gave her a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. She didn't give a damn that she wasn't proposed to in the way she had always dreamed about as a little girl; she didn't give a damn that she never got to experience that "single, adult womanhood" she was going on about to Rory. She almost didn't completely care that she couldn't share her news right away with Rory. She had finally gotten her middle started, and nothing else mattered…_ except for the Rory issue, but Luke and I'll fix that… just like he said, she'll come around_.

It was just past ten o'clock in the morning. The last time Luke had slept past ten, past eight even, he had been sick with the flu last year. Lorelai, though, who had always been the one to take advantage of a no alarm clock morning, had been up for the past hour and a half or so.

At first she had thought that it was just the sun that had awoken her. But as soon as she opened her eyes, she had remembered everything that had happened in the past 24 hours. As soon as she saw Luke's nose and lips, only centimeters away from her eyes... as soon as she had registered the stubble, by far her favorite feature on his face, (_Well, it's tied with his lips and eyes, and nose, oh and the tiny, tiny freckles he has on the tip of his nose…_ she could never decide which feature was in fact her favorite), the memories began to fly back: the entire reason why she'd visited him so late at the diner, his crazy plan to kidnap Rory, the twenty seconds it took her to realize she wanted to marry the man, share a life with him, have kids with him… which lead to her impromptu proposal, his would be proposal speech, the ring… the three hours of _naked_ time in bed… and falling asleep around three in the morning thinking _finally_.

And now here she was, an hour and forty-three minutes later at 10:13 AM, and Lorelai was getting impatient. She wanted Mr. I-Always-Get-Up-At-Five-A-M to get the hell up already! But she just couldn't bring herself to wake him as she studied his face. She played with the curls of hair on the back of his neck, simultaneously running her fingers across the stubble on his cheeks, chin, and neck. She brushed her palm over his chest, being tickled ever so slightly by his "little man fuzzies" that she loved so much. She smiled as she heard him berating her inside her head for calling his chest hair "little man fuzzies". He hated when she said that. But she knew he secretly loved it.

All of a sudden, Lorelai felt the hand that had rested on her hip for the past hour or so slide to the small of her back, _slowly_ glide over her butt, and grasp the back of her upper thigh… pulling her hips into the owner of the hand's abs. She giggled at this as Luke smiled sheepishly, his eyes still closed.

He growled softly, "You could have woken me up you know… I wouldn't have cared."

"Yeah, well, you're just so pretty that I didn't want to disturb you," she grinned back, knowing how he got when she called him pretty.

Luke's eyes shot open, and he growled at her some more; this time in a less _come and get it _mode and a more _stop it now_ mode, "Lorelai, I am not… pretty."

"Oh come on hun, just admit it…" she said, encouraging him with one of _her_ smiles. But Luke only continued to half-glare at her (after all, he couldn't fully glare in the aftermath of their engagement—which he knew she would milk for months and months to come…).

To Luke's surprise, thought, she surrendered, "Fine, fine… I still think you're pretty…"

Lorelai's voice grew deeper as she moved closer to him, "but if you _really_ want me to, I'll substitute the p-word for handsome," she kissed him once, slowly on his jaw line, "beautiful," she kissed his cheek, just as slowly as before, then tilted her head up to his ear and whispered deeply, "or incredibly sexy," before taking his earlobe between her lips, running her tongue over it and nipping occasionally with her teeth… Luke merely swallowed and grabbed the back of her thigh tighter, much to Lorelai's delight.

"Yeah, um," he stumbled with his words, his eyes closing as Lorelai rolled his ear between her tongue and upper front teeth, "What—whatever you want," and he swallowed once more when she released his ear before kissing the spot she had just held captive tenderly.

When he slowly opened his eyes fully, she caught his gaze, a dreamy smile forming on his lips.

"Thought you'd see it my way," she said with a smirk, and then kissed him squarely on the lips. "Morning!"

"Morning, love," Luke said softly, not even thinking twice about the very uncharacteristic greeting he had just given her. _Just because I haven't said it before doesn't mean it's not in my character… Maybe it's just a new characteristic she brings out in me…_ he defended, waiting for her to point out his discrepancy.

Lorelai's eyes widened with delight and she placed her left hand flat on Luke's chest incredulously, "What on earth inspired you to call me love?"

Luke's eyes left hers and fixated on a spot over her shoulder. He shrugged and said, "Just felt like it." It was all very nonchalant, but slowly a smile spread on his lips, "I guess it's a good day."

Luke then nodded in the direction he was looking, suggesting that Lorelai glance over. He spoke softly, "see that?" He placed his hand on her wrist to hold her in place.

Lorelai looked over her shoulder, and saw the sparkle that caught his eye. The way her hand was placed, her left hand on his chest, caught the sun perfectly; it caused the light to reflect off the diamond and onto the surfaces behind her.

"Ahh, yes," Lorelai said knowingly, turning back to face him, "It _is_ a good day."

"Mm hmm," Luke mumbled in agreement. He squeezed her into him as tightly as possible, as Lorelai wrapped her arms securely around his back.

They remained silent while they held on for dear life—or what seemed like it by the way those two were holding on to each other. But after the moment of their relishing in silence, Lorelai broke the quiet (as she usually did), squeezing him one last time and asked, "Heyyy, Luke?"

Luke released her slightly so he could look her in the eyes, "Yup?"

"Don't you have to go down to the diner?"

"What? Are you trying to get rid of me?" he said, laughing slightly in disbelief. He was almost always the one who had to push her to go to work. Even if it was the last thing he wanted to do.

"No…" Lorelai said innocently, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Caesar's got it this morning," Lorelai nodded in agreement before Luke added, "I'm glad I asked him yesterday."

She smiled in approval, "You're always so prepared."

Luke sighed and spoke in a deliberate tone, "Well… I've learned that it's always best to be prepared when Lorelai Gilmore's around."

"A regular boy scout, then?" she said cocking an eyebrow at him, daring him to continue.

So he did, "And you know… now, because of this _thing_," he said with a smirk, holding up her left hand, nodding at her ring finger, "I'm gonna need to be on my toes for a _long_ time." He mocked annoyance, meaning it genuinely though; _She's the only woman that could ever get me to stay on my toes, for the rest of my life… oh and she knows that, too,_ he thought happily in his head, not minding it in the slightest.

But when he saw Lorelai's continued glare, he knew he'd better add that out loud just to appease her, "You know I mean that in the forever sense, long time meaning forever. 'Cause this is a forever thing. So since you'll be around, and I'll be around, and we'll be around together forever… then the Boy Scout uh—preparedness will be a forever thing, too."

Luke watched her for a moment, then added, "Total dejá vu, huh?" referring to her sputtering monologue the night before to make up for a little slip of her own.

After another long moment, (for Luke anyways) Lorelai's face finally relaxed into a lazy grin, clearly satisfied with breaking him.

She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah, good save Mr. Boy Scout," she said, patting his chest reassuringly.

Lorelai pushed off him slightly to roll out of bed. Actually, it was more of a trip than a roll. She steadied herself and gave him a smirk, before she sauntered across the room to the coffee table in front of the couch. She bent over at the waist as she searched in her pink calfskin Mark Jacobs purse for her pink rhinestone cell phone. _She does like her pink, and her rhinestones… _Luke commented inwardly as he watched her intently.

His eyes never left her as she moved around, shaking his head absentmindedly as he tried once more to fully grasp the idea that he was going to spend the _rest_ of his life with the most amazing woman he had ever known.

It seemed crazy.

He had dreamed it a thousand times before they had even gotten together... way, way long ago.

At the time he liked his little growing infatuation of the woman he hardly knew. But that was long before things changed.

He can't remember exactly when it was (years ago, he knew that much); maybe after they had developed a friendship; when she had become a fixture in his life; possibly the day he realized his growing jealousy of every man Lorelai ever mentioned, even if it was just Kirk. But whatever the exact point, maybe there was no exact point, the change was when he stopped entertaining the possibility shown in the dreams, when he refused to admit it was more than a little infatuation, when he refused to allow any hope to fill his mind (to spare his dignity, of course).

Now, with proper experience and knowledge on this woman's heart, he was pretty damn sure that the slight change was the point when he had fallen in love with her.

Subconsciously, of course. And he kicked himself at that, still wishing he wasn't so damn stubborn.

And even as he heard her swear under her breath when she knocked over the tall glass that she had placed next to her purse the night before, (which luckily held only a few remaining drops of water) he couldn't believe what an amazing woman she had become. He was so incredibly proud of her and everything she had achieved on her own. He couldn't believe that she had raised such a beautiful and intelligent daughter, still with flaws, but perfect nonetheless. Well, of course he could believe it—she was Lorelai, after all, capable of anything.

And her clumsiness just added to the brilliance of it all.

Still, he couldn't believe how damn lucky he was that she had chosen _him_.

"Crap!" she said harshly, definitely not under her breath this time, shaking Luke from his thoughts. She now stood upright, her hand resting on her hip and a fat pout residing on her face as she stared at her open cell phone.

Luke propped himself on his elbows. "What's wrong?"

"Ah, it's nothing," she said shaking her head. She spoke again, this time in rant mode, as she scrolled through the missed calls list, pressing the buttons a little too forcefully, "Its just—I have about 50 missed calls from the inn. Damn Michel! I told him I'd be in at 10:30 today and he's been calling me since 7:00, probably just trying to make sure I'd get up and get in on time…

"You know, I'm really reconsidering using Rory's idea of just firing him for like, a day, just to prove his own theory that being listed under the 'unemployed' category on Match dot com _does_ get you less comments on your… um profile." Lorelai stumbled with her words when she saw the number that she had just scrolled across.

_Oh yeah, like I'm really gonna call her back. Backstabbing WASP of a woman…_ she thought bitterly as she skipped over the three other calls from "Vicious Trollop Cell". _She better have not left me a message_. _I should probably change that name, too. She definitely deserves a to be called something much, much worse than "trollop" right now._

But her bitterness, though, was quickly forgotten when she realized who's name she had said mentioned before Trollop's cell had popped up.

Lorelai had thought about Rory several times in the past two hours that she'd been up, and she was able to say her name last night when talking to Luke. But she hadn't mentioned her name in such a light-hearted manner, yet. She hadn't said her name as if nothing was wrong, as if things were, dare she think, _normal _with the girl. Lorelai certainly hadn't really thought of a Rory anecdote from happier times either. And now the pang she was feeling definitely hurt.

As much as Lorelai tried to hide it though, Luke sure noticed. _Of course Luke noticed, _she thought. He waited for her to look up at him, to catch his gaze, hoping it would reassure her. When she did, he asked softly, "Did she call you?"

"Oh… no, she didn't. It's not like I expected her to though," she said, shrugging it off as she closed her phone.

It wasn't just Rory that was causing the major pang she was feeling; it was Emily, too. But Lorelai didn't feel like being Debbie Downer by bringing up _that_ Gilmore then. Especially since she was naked.

She walked towards Luke, smiling weakly in the process, and kneeled on the edge with one knee.

"Lorelai…" he said softly. Luke placed a hand on her hip and gently applied pressure, urging her to come closer to him.

"I'm fine, really," she said placing her other knee on the bed, and sitting on her heels next to him.

But Luke cocked an eyebrow at her. "I swear," Lorelai said defensively, holding out her pinking to him. He took it with his own pinky as if it was the most natural thing, and she shook it firmly.

"Mhmm," he murmured with a smirk, still not believing her. His tone turned soft once more when he tried to assure her, "you know she'll come around, Lorelai…"

Her sadness faded, thought slightly forced away for Luke's sake, and she smiled, almost confidently at him, "Yeah, I know. You're always right when it comes to these things."

"This is true," he said, slipping his hand into hers again.

Lorelai played with his fingers for a moment, _God I love his hands… _she thought as she examined them.

"So, about this whole work thing," she said glancing up to look at him, "Are you finally going to ditch with me?" Her smile was full of mischievousness.

Luke nodded, "Well we deserve it… I told you I would eventually, didn't I?"

"Yessss…" she squeezed his hand at this and then paused before continuing, "but you also said that very same thing _every_ time I suggested we take the day off—"

Luke sighed. "Well maybe if you hadn't suggested that we ditch work _every_ other day…" he said matter-of-factly.

She let out a shocked laugh. "Oh yeah, sure! Way to over exaggerate there, buddy!"

"I'm not. Already this week you've asked me twice. And it's Saturday! So basically—yes that is every other day," Luke said pointedly.

Lorelai couldn't argue with the facts, so she did what she always did when she was in this same situation… or when she was trying to convince him of something, or when she was trying to end a rant that had been going on for five minutes… basically Lorelai used any excuse to kiss Luke.

So she did, pushing him flat on his back as she leaned into him. She rolled off her heels and balanced herself on her knees, planting each hand next to his shoulders.

Luke let his arms hang loosely from her hips before he slowly moved them to cup her butt. When Lorelai felt this she smiled into the kiss, generously working his bottom lip in return. And just as Luke started to kiss her harder, the slip second before he was going to flip her over so he could get in control, Lorelai pulled back quickly and sat back on her heels again. She watched him with a sly grin, clearly amused.

"So then no work until later?" she asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, yeah, no work…" Luke said distractedly as his mind and hands focused solely on pulling her back to him.

But as soon as she had his word, she reached for her cell phone that sat half way off the bed. However, miscalculating the distance, she managed to grab the phone but fell off the bed and rolled sideways onto the floor.

"Argg, crap… ow, oh—I'm good!" she said as she held down the number two button, repositioning herself so her back was leaning against the bed. She grabbed for her favorite blue flannel of his, now dubbed _her flannel_, which was conveniently placed on the floor next to her.

Lorelai held the phone between her shoulder and ear as she buttoned up her shirt, waiting for someone to pick up. Luke swung his legs over the side of the bed that Lorelai had her back against and tugged playfully on one of her fuzzy ringlets, chuckling softly as he stood up.

But before he took a step further he saw out of the corner of his eye that Lorelai was holding up a pair of his boxers straight above her head for him to put on.

"Thanks," he said grabbing them. He slipped into them on as he walked the short distance to the kitchen. As comfortable as Lorelai was in front of him with the nakedness, Luke still blushed when he was completely exposed to her… especially when he was the _only_ one fully naked.

Still waiting for _anyone_ to answer, she told him, "I still don't see why you're so embarrassed. Honestly those arms and that ass could take on Brad Pitt's…"

Luke groaned at this, while Lorelai let out a laugh as she pictured the image in her mind, "Wow that would be a funny contest, you and Brad. A little gay but… you'd win hands down, mister. You've got flawless shape, the perfect tan color, which by the way I've been meaning to ask you about… Your ass is the perfection of—oh um, yes Michel, hi yes," Lorelai cleared her throat, "Hello," _And he picks up right when I'm getting to the good part… _Lorelai thought, but laughed anyways, _it is a little funny…_

Although it was muffled, Lorelai clearly heard her favorite "Ah… geez," come from inside the open refrigerator. She couldn't help but smile as she made up some ridiculous excuse for why she wouldn't be in until later that afternoon, much to Michel's protest. But when his accent got too thick for her understanding from his debilitating whining, Lorelai muttered a quick, "Mhm, okay, buh-bye," and swiftly flipped the phone shut.

She twirled a strand of hair around her finger, smirking as she glanced over at Luke who was still bent at the waist shuffling things around in the refrigerator, clad only in plaid boxers. She pushed herself off the ground, a cheeky grin appearing on her face, and made her way over to the bathroom. Before she walked in though, Lorelai paused in the doorframe and spun around on her heel to watch him.

Luke surprisingly had flour and eggs already beaten in a large bowl and was currently in the middle of cutting strawberries. Lorelai laughed quietly and leaned her head and shoulder against the doorframe when she saw one of her favorite things in the world: Luke's cooking face was on. One of her all time favorite looks. Luke's concentration of _not_ slicing off a finger lead him to alternatively bite his lower lip and tongue the inside of his cheek. And Lorelai loved it.

"Hey hun? I'm gonna take a bath," she called out to him, leaning extremely seductively against the doorframe.

But Luke's concentration did not falter and he swiftly chopped up each strawberry into little thin slices. "Mhhm," he grunted in concurrence.

Lorelai rolled her eyes at his slight misunderstanding, but she still marveled at his concentration. She spoke loudly and more slowly, "Luke... I said I was going to take a _bath_."

"Yeah, sure go ahead," he said, stopping the knife in mid chop as he looked up.

She stared bewitchingly at him, with a gaze that could make any man weak at the knees. "Bath, me, now," she said slowly, dragging each word out, before she moved into the bathroom and leaned against the open door... still staring.

Luke swallowed and rolled his eyes at his own stupidity.

"Uh oh right, I'm coming," he stuttered helplessly as he placed the knife down and whipped his hands on a towel that sat next to the chopping board. He marched across the apartment determinedly, and straight into the bathroom. Lorelai stood where she was and held the door open for him. As he brushed past her she swatted his butt playfully.

"Oh yes, you will come," she said deeply, suppressing a laugh.

"Ah geez…"

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Like I said, **TBC**. 

And as always, the little reminders I get in my mailbox every single time one of you beautiful people decides to **leave me a review** (any kind of review!) just makes me write _that_ much faster.


	4. Hiding Out in a Tub

**Disclaimer:** Nothing is legally mine. Sucks, doesn't it?

**A/N:** Nothing new to report, other than the fact that this chapter _does_ have a little more substance… and not that naked LL fooling around time doesn't have substance… but this is plot thickening substance here, and with naked LL in the bathtub so you're not missing out on anything.

I tackled one more of the little tiny matters left unresolved in the season finale (hence the point of this entire saga), so hopefully I did an okay job with it and it will lead us to better things in the following chapters… oh and thanks for reading to my babbling nonsense.

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**Ch 4: Hiding Out in a Tub**

Almost four hours later, they found themselves in a familiar place. Already within the past hours, they had attempted to take one bath, but Lorelai's playfulness and Luke's willingness got in the way of any actual bathing (in the most traditional sense, of course); they had eaten the six pancakes, with strawberries and whip cream, that Luke had made (four and a half for her, one for him, and the remaining half ended up on the floor somehow); they had watched one episode of Saved By The Bell… then spent twelve minutes discussing that its sole purpose for being on in the middle of the day was, as Lorelai put it, to keep the unemployed from committing suicide out of sheer boredom and find solace in Screech's lovable quirkiness; and all throughout the morning's events Lorelai had drank a total of seven cups of coffee, much to Luke's protest, but he couldn't refuse her anything on the morning after their engagement (not that he ever could refuse her of anything on any other relatively normal day, but at least this was a dignified excuse.)

But the familiar place they found themselves in once again was the bathtub. And this time they were actually _bathing_. Well, to some extent.

The bathtub was practically overflowing with bubbles and the room smelled like tangerines and grapefruit, softly lit by the light sneaking in through the small window. Along the counter sat four candles that were more than halfway gone, which added to the _glow_ that Lorelai was going on about.

Luke had his legs stretched out in the tub, his back curved against the slope of it. Lorelai sat crossed-legged on top of his knees and faced him as she worked on creating a bubble beard on Luke's face.

"So _when_ did you go to the mall?" Lorelai asked in disbelief. She furrowed her brows, both in confusion and concentration.

Luke rolled his eyes. "If you don't drop it, I won't buy them for you again."

Lorelai put her hands up in mock surrender. "Okay, okay… It's just a very sweet gesture, Luke. That's all…" Lorelai paused, which suggested to him that she was done… but she wasn't. "I mean, I just can't believe you went to Victoria's Secret to get my favorite candles! Well, I can see the allure of that store for you, obviously… but I just thought that your hatred of chain stores and malls could withstand sexy lingerie models." Lorelai shook her head in mock disappointment, still focusing on covering Luke's left cheek with foam.

Luke rolled her eyes and ignored the accusation though. "Yeah, well, I thought you'd like having them here. You do have, like, almost twenty of them at home."

"True…" she said interrupting.

"But if this is what I'm gonna have to go through next time I buy you something girly or pink or fruity smelling…"

"No, no! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I swear, I love it. And I love you. And I will never again annoy you for doing such a sweet thing…" Lorelai had not realized that she had said she loved him, and smiled in the afterthought of it; she did love the fact that she didn't even have to think about whether or not it was appropriate to say it. She could say it whenever she wanted to, now. "Well, I won't intentionally try to annoy you…" she said with a smirk.

"Yeah, yeah," Luke said smiling at Lorelai's little declaration. She had said it many times, but every time he couldn't help but produce a smile.

"Don't smile! You'll ruin it and I'm almost done," Lorelai said while smoothing the bubbles along his jaw line that had shifted. "Okay, finished," she said triumphantly.

Lorelai scooted down his legs, away from him, to lean against the opposite wall of the tub. She now sat in between his feet.

"Well, how does it look?"

Lorelai examined him, her eyes narrow for a moment. She gave him a small nod as she said frankly, "kind of like Santa Claus."

"Oh, exactly the look I was going for," Luke said sarcastically.

She laughed, her lips curving into a crooked smile. She said seductively, "but you are much… much hotter than Santa."

"Okay new topic. I'm starting to get creepy images here."

"Yeah, okay… still dirty, though," Lorelai said, leaning forward to brush off the already messy bubbles. When she brushed her fingers near his lips, Luke caught her wrist and lingeringly kissed her palm.

She sat back and smiled at him affectionately. Her head titled against the brass faucet, her legs stretched out between his. Luke held her feet in his hands and rubbed circles around her ankle. His face had on the same enamored smile Lorelai's wore.

And then out of nowhere, Luke sat up and asked quickly: "You don't want four in four do you?"

Lorelai's eyes shot open and she shifted so that she was sitting up more, too. "What? No. Wait, do you?" she sputtered out.

"No… I mean, unless you want that," Luke said quietly. He looked down for a moment before he continued shyly, "But I just always thought maybe one, maybe two…"

Lorelai relaxed slowly at this, her eyes still wide (but now with excitement rather than shock). She spoke softly and smiled at him, "My thoughts exactly." _Oh thank God. Yeah, I didn't think he could possibly want four in four… especially after that oh-so-subtle rant of his when Jackson had mentioned the idea a while ago… One or two does sound kind of perfect,_ Lorelai thought.

She was still surprised at herself though. This was now her second baby talk—not circumlocution or talk with subtext, but an actual and real discussion of them two and a potential child—with Luke in the past 24 hours, and she anticipated what would come of it all. She was shocked when she thought suddenly that only a few days ago she was relieved as hell that she wasn't pregnant, thinking that Luke would run if he knew… _Oh shit._ And the pang that came of that little forgotten detail hit her like big yellow school bus.

Her body stiffened slightly, and she broke her gaze with him. She leaned her head flat on the edge of the tub and looked up at the ceiling. She knew she had to tell him. She hadn't planned on it—well she knew she had to eventually, she had just got caught up in everything that it had sort of slipped her mind. She felt like an idiot… a royal bitch, really. She knew it was his right to know; she knew she had to be honest.

Lorelai brought her head off the edge of the tub and eyed Luke, his head was in the same position she had just had hers at the opposite end of the tub. Lorelai placed her hands on his, which rested on her knees, and she fully pulled herself up to look at him more seriously.

Luke brought his head up to look at her. _She looks… weird_, he thought. Luke smiled reassuringly at her and spoke gently, "What's up?"

_Okay, its fine. The worst thing that will happen is he'll get a little mad… right? Maybe he won't be mad… no, I'm sure he'll get kind of mad. Of course he won't run, though; he said he wanted it. He said he wants "one, maybe two". He bought a house for the kids and me. (We should probably talk about that at some point_, and she made a mental note of it.)_ It will be fine… I just have to be gentle about it all, introduce it in a delicate way, be sensitive_… Lorelai had been silent for a while, and this worried Luke.

He grabbed her hands that sat in her lap under the bubbles. "Lorelai, just tell me."

And then she had lost her control of all delicacy, sensitivity, and eloquence. She didn't shout, but was forceful. "I thought I was pregnant!" She said it all so quickly that the words ran together fluidly.

Immediately after the split second it had taken her to realize that she had just delivered the news in the worst way possible, Lorelai covered her face with her hands, leaving Luke's limp in her lap. _Oh yeah, great way to deliver the news, Lorelai… very sensitive and fragile…_ she thought, shaking her head ever so slightly in her hands.

Luke's eyes were wide and he was having a little trouble breathing. He wasn't sure if it was a involuntary act of the body or if he was supposed to send his own signal to the brain to breath. _She thought—wait, what… how? _Luke shook his head at this thought, _Well if you didn't know how, Luke, she wouldn't be telling you this in the first place! _… _No um, okay. Pregnant? Pregnant with—mine?_ But Luke corrected himself at this thought, _Of course yours you idiot, what do you think she is? A vicious trollop or something? _Luke had been spending so much time with her the he inwardly mocked himself for knowing the name of her favorite color lipstick. _Okay, stay calm… what did she say? She thought she was? So… does that mean she's not…?_ The questions running through his head were making him dizzy.

Lorelai, who still had her face in her hands, was growing even more nervous at Luke's silence. After several excruciatingly long minutes, she slowly spread her fingers and peeked through to glance at him. She could still feel his hands limp in her lap, and his face (if it was possible) somehow mirrored his hands: his jaw hung a bit loosely, his eyes were wide and distant.

"Luke…?" she asked quietly, slowly taking her hands off of her face and placing them on her thighs, carefully avoiding his if she could for a moment.

"Yeah," he said softly, snapping out of the shock induced trance he had just been in.

"You um—you heard me, right?"

"Yeah," he said in the same tone, still just as incredulous.

_Okay, Lorelai, time to bring out the sensitivity while begging for forgiveness and understanding…_ "So you heard how I so, so, so, sooo inconsiderately shouted at you that I _thought_ I was pregnant," she stated again.

Luke stared straight in front of him. His gaze bore a hole in her chest, just above her breasts. "Yeah, I'm—" Luke's breath caught in his throat, suddenly realizing how damn dry his mouth had become in the past minutes. He swallowed before continuing, "I'm just processing."

"Okay," she said quietly, sitting back to allow him time to 'process' it all.

After a minute or so of silence, Lorelai simply could not take it and said his name once more to get him to speak.

"What—how, when?" he said, finally meeting her gaze.

"Well, if you don't know how I doubt we'd be in this situation in the first place," she said sarcastically.

"Lorelai…" Luke said warningly, ignoring the irony that he himself had just made that same sarcastic remark in his head moments before.

Lorelai sighed deeply, and looked down as she began her ramble, "Well, I was in the hospital, when Sookie went into labor, and it hit me that for the entire day I had been craving apples. So then that freaked me out because, well you know that's not me. I mean Rory said maybe I had just felt this subconscious urge to better comply with the government's recommendations for fruit and vegetable intake, which is just propaganda is you ask me…

"But anyways, I knew it had to be something more… I just had this feeling, plus with the apples, it just made me crazy. But that was also the day after the party, with the drinking and the limo and the fun later that night when we got home—on the table and the bed and um—anyways, that morning I woke up and realized we hadn't exactly, well, had everything _covered_ and that made me just think about the possibility even more.

"And then I asked a doctor I found and they said you couldn't tell from just a test after just two days, and of course I fought him on it… I mean he says there's no high-powered machine but they're putting pig vessels in human's for Christ's sake! But I had a feeling he'd call security if I pushed it any further so I stopped and he said that the _apple craving_ might be a sign. So then I spent a few hours completely at a loss for all sanity… I mean, I was stupid Luke! Really, really stupid. I thought you'd be gone and I didn't tell you so it just made me freak more…" Lorelai's voice had risen severely somewhere in the middle of her long, long rant. She realized this and took a deep breath, letting all remaining anxiety out as best as she could. Lorelai decided it was best if she just wrap it all up, for her sake and Luke's, judging by the very lost look on his face by the massive amount of information she had just spewed out.

She sighed, her voice sounded drained of energy when she spoke: "but then I got… well I just—I realized I wasn't." Lorelai took a deep breath when she ended, her face almost saddened by her last statement.

Luke's face had made several expressions during her little speech: shock, confusion, amusement, disappointment, hope… He wasn't fully angry, per se. He couldn't be, after all, or else he'd simply by a hypocrite. _You didn't tell her about the house for so long. Not that a house is the same as a baby… Well, kind of. It's a big life-altering thing. And both of us are really, really necessary for both ideas to work… No, you're not mad,_ Luke assured himself. But he still was incredulous.

He took a deep breath. "So… no?" he asked, still wanting to make sure.

She shook her head. "No, Luke." Lorelai confirmed almost in an annoyed tone. She knew she shouldn't be annoyed but she couldn't help it, she was impatient. And Luke was making no attempt to react in any way other than silence and shock. _I knowww it's a lot to take in, but common! I took it in and I would have been the inflated balloon for nine months!_

"Are you mad, Luke? Is that why you're not talking?" Lorelai asked, exasperated.

Luke's hands, which were previously vegging out on Lorelai's lap, slowly moved up her thighs and stopped when he reached her hands. He seemed to be able to construct actual thoughts and was now able to send notions to his brain to produce real actions! He gave her a gentle squeeze, "I'm not mad, Lorelai," he spoke quietly then paused. Luke took a deep breath before continuing, "I'm just a little… I donno. I guess I just feel left out that you didn't tell me. I would have been there, you shouldn't have had to go through that alone, really I—"

"Luke it wasn't a big deal, I was only thinking it was a possibility for, like, less than a whole day."

Luke shook his head and closed his eyes shortly before focusing back on her. "Lorelai, it is a big deal, don't say it wasn't… You need to tell me these things. And I know I have no right saying anything because, well look at what I just did… I spent the past few weeks sneaking around to buy a house for us without even filling you in on it," Luke shook his head again out of sheer disappointment in himself. Lorelai grabbed his hand in reassurance, taking in every word he was saying. He continued, squeezing her hand as he did so, "But we need to tell each other stuff like this because even though it might not seem big to us at the moment—it probably it, Lorelai. If it affects the both of us, if it is life altering in any damn way, we've got to tell each other. We have got to be there for each other and be honest or else well… we just have to be honest from now on," he stated wistfully.

Lorelai's eyes were rimmed with tears. She didn't let any drop though. She simply whispered, "You're right…"

Luke soothed the top of her hand with his thumb as he gave her a soft smile. After a moment he continued again, speaking as calmly as possible, "And I really would have liked to be there for you… even if it was just a scare. You shouldn't have had to deal with that alone. And just—you should have told me…" his voice faded.

"…Yeah, I know," she said sadly.

"…Why didn't you?"

Lorelai broke his gaze for the first time since she had spoken earlier, "I just thought you would have run or something," her voice was small. She looked up at him again, and smiled sheepishly, "Stupid, huh?"

Luke ran his other hand over her forearm, breaking through the water as he slid it up and along her shoulder. "No, definitely not stupid. I guess I probably came off that way before… I'm not always the most patient guy when it comes to kids. But it's probably just because they aren't my own," Luke smiled reassuringly at her, then asked, "You know now I would never leave us, right? No matter what—and that I want kids—I mean, you know that all, right?" He was almost pleading with her.

Lorelai just gazed at the man in front of her with such awe she could squeeze him until he popped. So, she tried to… she wrapped her armed around his neck and leaned fully into him, running her fingers through the hair on the back of his head. Luke pulled her in as close as possible by sliding her up his legs, which she still sat on, and into his lap. He wrapped his arms securely around her torso ran his palms up and down her back, occasionally dropping kisses on her bare shoulders.

"I know, Luke, I know all of it… I'm still so sorry though. I'm so, so, so sorry." she whispered as she rested her chin on his shoulder.

"I know you are…" Luke whispered back into her hair.

"But can you ever acc—"

"Apology accepted. Don't worry."

Lorelai pulled back and kissed him softly before she turned in his arms and leaned back into his chest. Luke wrapped his arms around her midsection just below her breasts.

"You're too amazing, ya know that?" she said, tilting her head up to him.

Luke smiled cheekily, "Yeah, I did, actually."

"Oh, I see becoming engaged to me has turned you into Mr. Modesty."

"Yes well you'd make anyone boastful." He said jokingly.

Lorelai thought for a second before she responded in a skeptic tone, "I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or be very offended by it…"

"Take the compliment," Luke said pointedly encouragingly, "I hate to do this, but you do know I had to go downstairs at some point today, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you say that earlier…" she sighed fervently, "I guess we can't just hide up here and have crazy, wild sex all day while the people who work for us slave for hours and hours to actually _run_ our own businesses…" She sat up and twisted around on his legs. She gave him a big, fat pout and whined, "So… it's that time now isn't it?"

"Well it was actually that time about an hour ago… so yeah I should probably go down there before Caesar turns on everyone with a frying pan."

"Yeah Kirk can have that affect on people if left alone with them for too long," she said laughing. She looked down at her hands, "We should probably get out… my hands are starting to look like a 97 year old woman's…"

Luke laughed and stepped out of the tub, dripping suds all over the olive green mat on the floor. Lorelai remained sitting cross-legged in the tub and pulled out the water stopper. She watched Luke as he buffed himself dry with his towel and then tie it tightly around his waist.

Luke turned to grab her fuzzy pink Hello Kitty robe that she kept hung on the back of his door and held it open for her. Lorelai stepped out of the tub and slid her hands through the sleeves, turning to face him. She took his face in her hands and kissed him slowly and teasingly as he tied the belt around her waist. _He's such a multitasker,_ Lorelai thought as Luke soothingly slid his tongue along her bottom lip. He finished his bow, then pulled back to look at her.

"You're all set," he whispered, a little flustered still from the kiss.

"Thanks, hun," Lorelai said smiling, slightly blushing. She just loved the fact that every time Luke touched her, especially in a slow or lingering way, it still made her stomach flutter a bit.

Lorelai smiled lazily at him before she walked out the door, pinching his butt in the process, and fell backwards onto the bed. "Get dressed already so you can go down there, let everyone know we didn't elope or something, save Kirk from a mental breakdown because of Luke withdrawal, and save Caesar from Kirk… and then get that cute butt of yours back up here. And I mean fast, mister. Speed Racer style."

Luke was looking in his closet now, standing in his boxers. He pulled out a pair of jeans and slipped them on. "Yeah, I'm sure Taylor and Kirk are having fits right about now. And I bet someone at the _Stars Hollow Gazette_ has already written an article about _the__great Luke and Lorelai disappearance of 2005_."

"Yup. Michel's probably gone berserk, resulting in every member of my staff quitting. Oh and of course Patty and Babbette have been glued to their seats, tainting the whole diner with gossip about us… at least for the past 5 hours or so."

"And why is it that we live here again?"

Lorelai stared up at the ceiling. "Because it's our town. It's Stars Hollow. It's got its quirks but that's what makes it so perfect… crazy festivals, crazy traditions, just plain crazies in general…" Lorelai said dreamily.

A moment of silence passed: Luke still shuffling around and locating items of clothing, Lorelai on her back and twisting pieces of hair around on her finger.

"Crap!" Lorelai shot out, sitting upright on the bed with her hands planted behind her.

Luke turned around immediately to face her, "What's wrong!"

"The town, the people, the gossips, the crazies! They can't find out yet—It'll get to Rory!" Lorelai said hastily.

Luke walked over to Lorelai and got down in front of her, bouncing on his toes between her legs. He placed his hands on her thighs and she sat up further until she was level with him.

"Well I can keep a secret if you can," he said confidently.

"I can do that… I don't want to but I guess I can for a few days. But what if they see—"

"Just take it off, I don't care," he said soothingly, genuinely wanting her to be comfortable about it all, even if it did mean taking off the ring.

"Nope, no way, mister. I am not taking this off," she said forcefully and waved her left hand in front of his face, "Not an option."

Luke smiled lopsidedly (secretly very, very happy with her response), and took her hand in his. "Okay," he said with a nod. "We'll just hide it then," he said gently, twisting the ring around her finger so that the diamond was concealed underneath. "This way, no one can tell but you still get to keep it on."

Lorelai relaxed immediately. She loved how sweet he was with her, how sensitive and considerate he was. Her face broke out in a toothy smile when she thought of how wonderful it was of him to so easily understand her need to keep it on (which actually surprised her a little).

"I'm marrying a genius! That's perfect!" she said excitedly and then kissed him fully on the lips, placing a hand on his bare chest.

Lorelai pulled away slightly, however, and mumbled against his lips, "Now go," before kissing him forcefully once more. After a moment though, she forced herself to push him away and lean back again onto the bed. She didn't want him to go, but she needed him to leave so he could come back.

Luke groaned and pushed himself up. He pulled out a plain gray shirt from the drawers of his dresser and grabbed a light green flannel, then continued to button it up. He walked to the edge of the bed and looked down at Lorelai. _Somehow_ the bow he had tied earlier had come undone and now haphazardly revealed a thick line of skin down the center of her body.

He placed his hand flat on her stomach. "I promise I won't be longer than an hour. Just gotta check and make sure someone didn't burn the place down or something."

Lorelai smiled up at him, "Oh they didn't, we would know. We would have heard little girly screams coming from downstairs."

Luke rolled his eyes and patted her stomach softly, "Kirk does hate fire…"

Lorelai laughed. "Now get out! Go, go, go. I want you back here in exactly one hour! Oh and bring me food, please! Coffee, too. Oh and pie. And don't forget the fries. And if you have any room left, some strawberry ice cream would be good. And did I say coffee already?"

Luke rolled his eyes and turned his back to her. He walked towards the door as he said, "Why am I not more shocked at your eating habits?"

"Because you've been feeding me for nine years, of course. Love ya." Lorelai said as she rolled over onto her stomach.

"Love you," Luke said, his heart melting ever so slightly, _You've really got it bad, man,_ he thought. _Imagine when you're actually married…_ but this thought just made his heart melt even more.

Luke walked down the stairs to the diner, smiling his Lorelai smile: teeth showing, small dimples formed, lips full and stretched. He knew no matter what he was about to have to deal with in there, she was still waiting for him upstairs. And that thought only let the smile spread across his face even more. _Only 1 hour… just 60 minutes, that's it_, he thought as he pulled back the green flannel curtain to face the crazies that inevitably were going to pounce the moment they saw him…

_**TBC…**_

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Leave me a review please! They make me smile. And write faster.**


	5. Dealing With It

**A/N:** There is no way I could ever find the freaking words to say how mo-fo'ing sorry I am for the tardiness of the following chapter. I have no excuse for excuses, but you should know that on top of my computer being out of whack for two entire weeks, I was super sick for the better part of June. So there you have it. But absolutely no sympathy, please! I DO NOT DESERVE IT!

So read and be merry, and again I am so sorry (I have become my own pet peeve: loser absent author who doesn't update for months at a time). Trust me, I'm beating myself up plenty over it. And you can believe me when I say that the next chapter WILL be up in the next few days.

(And one last thing... I wanted this up right away, so no beta on this one. Just did it myself, so there's another thing you can blame me for. ALTHOUGH, I'm a pretty kick ass beta myself so though it was a little biased of an beta job, I'd say it's pretty well edited.)

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**Ch. 5: Dealing With It**

Luke stood behind the counter with a calm but dreamy, even distant look in his eyes as he stared out the window and across the square. For the past five whole minutes he stood there, staring, as he scrubbed absentmindedly at the linoleum surface of the counter. His look though, was surprising to all who had encountered it in the past two hours that he had occupied the diner (after being absent for the whole morning and early afternoon). His expression—a mixture of wistful and serene and anxious (plus many other looks that were unknown)—was surprising considering all he'd dealt with since his very late and unexplained entrance to work.

So far, Luke had taken on Kirk more times than he would bother remembering, Taylor twice, Andrew once, Lane and Cesar a few more, and of course, Babette and Patty every time he stopped at the table they had occupied for the past few hours. And on top of it all, there were the numerous calls to the diner's phone, from the woman upstairs—the woman who was not so patiently waiting for his return.

But yet, his expression never retorted to the usual gruff and grump. It remained that unknown mixture, best defined as 'for the most part, content'.

All of a sudden, the hazy picture that filled Luke's vision (mostly due to the fact that his blinking had slowed since he had started staring out at the square)—the washed out outline of the trees and benches and passerby's—had been interrupted by a wonderful mess of dark curls, piercing blue eyes and rosy cheeks plopping down on the stool across from him. That enigmatic smile that he formerly held had quickly broadened and his eyes fixated on her, the distant look fleeting quickly from his face; she came into focus quickly.

"Do you know what I've been doing for the past 126 minutes… give or take a few seconds?" Lorelai asked him with an innocent smile, her chin resting in the palm of her hand.

"Pining for me?" he asked, hoping she wouldn't be too upset with him.

"No, that was you," she said pointedly and in all seriousness.

Luke simply rolled his eyes in response, though his smile never ceased.

"I," she said dragging out the vowel, "spent the first 60 minutes patiently waiting for your promised return, then the next 30 minutes prank calling you and mixing potions and chanting incantations and hexes and whatever else you call them to lure you up to me… And then when all of that failed and I was still alone and feeling abandoned, the next 29 minutes were spent in a rage blackout which lead me to trash the entire upstairs like the members of KISS do to their hotel rooms after an exceptionally bitchin' show… And I spent the last 3 minutes calming down enough to realize that if I let my beautiful face be shown down here then that could be enough to coax you out of your grown up responsibilities and back upstairs into bed." She said it all so fast that when she finished she took a deep breath, letting Luke figure out the rest.

So he did, while eying her carefully. "And here you are," he stated matter-of-factly.

Lorelai nodded with an enigmatic smile. "And here I am," she said in agreement. "Except I'm not here to coax you back upstairs because I realized that if I don't show up to the Inn sometime today that Michel will hang himself on the porch making the front entrance inaccessible throwing off the entire feng shuiew of the place for the poor guests."

Luke nodded in seriousness. "Right, because that would be bad for business."

"Mhmm," she mumbled in agreement; looking around the diner at the patrons she asked, "So how bad was it? I mean, it must have been seriously crazy down here for you to be down here for 62 whole more minutes than promised…"

Luke meanwhile placed an empty mug in front of her and filled it to the brim with coffee. "Sorry it's just that when I said it'd only be an hour I didn't realize that today is 20 Questions day in Stars Hollow. You'd think it was written somewhere in the town bylaws that every citizen is entitled to know whatever aspect of my personal business that they want to. It's ridiculous."

Lorelai took a generous sip of coffee while nodding sympathetically. She let out a half moan half sigh after swallowing, "Yeah, the whole privacy concept is lost on our little Hollow."

Luke chuckled and ducked his head before returning to the annoying patrons. As he went back to serving and cleaning, Lorelai gazed dreamily at him, tracing the edges of her mug absentmindedly with the tip of her finger. It was just too amazing, too surreal; she still just couldn't believe they were engaged.

"Lorelai, good morning." his voice spoke in its usual awkwardly deep fashion behind her.

She swiveled around on her stool. "Kirk, good afternoon," she said pointedly, double-checking her watch to note that it was indeed nearly four.

He cleared his throat and continued in a more than usual serious tone. "Good afternoon, Lorelai. See," he started gesturing with his hands, "I usually give you both greetings separately at the appropriate times. However, this morning, you and Luke," he said nodding in Luke's direction, "were behind closed doors doing whatever it is you do when you're behind closed doors well past noon—"

"Kirk…" she said, interrupting his usual inappropriate babble before he could get too far with it.

"Yes, well, I'm forced to give you both salutations at the same time, which only throws me off more than the norm—" Lorelai gave him a questionable look, one eyebrow arched, a smile tugging at one corner of her mouth. "—Anyways, good morning and good afternoon."

"Thanks Kirk."

Kirk began tapping his fingers rhythmically on the counter, making Lorelai arch her eyebrow even higher in question of something more. Finally, after a few moment of silence between the two (except for the repeated tapping of the finger), he spoke abruptly, "So, what was the cause of the sudden lack of responsibility this morning? Because that was very un-Luke like behavior. Not showing your faces to the public until mid afternoon—impressive. What were you two doing upstairs—"

Lorelai turned away from Kirk then, swiveling around in her stool once more. She was glad Luke was taking another order from Patty and Babette's table as Kirk was speaking to her because knowing him he would have thrown him out on his ass the moment he brought up the subject. Although, on second thought, the insinuations that Patty and Babette were inevitably throwing at him at that moment could not have been much better.

Bringing the cup to her lips, she spoke dismissively against the brim. "Okay, b-bye Kirk."

"Oh and, about the house," he said in a lower tone, leaning in to her tentatively as Lorelai simultaneously tilted backwards. Her eyes were wide, her mouth slightly agape; her alert level skyrocketed when he said the word 'house'. "I would never wish any unhappiness on your relationship with Luke, you know that. But I must admit, I was extremely excited to hear that Luke pulled his offer," he said shaking his head, "Lulu and I are planning on having a room for our dolls and action figures—we're so excited!"

Before Lorelai could even form her usual witty response to Kirk's mention of a doll room, he had already slapped his hand on the counter in excitement over another idea for the house, and bid her a quick good evening—just in case he didn't see her later that night (he needed to have all his greetings for the day covered, after all)—leaving Lorelai in the same position: eyes wide, mouth agape, mind racing.

During their monumental 'talk' in the aftermath of Lorelai's proposal (in the diner directly after, in the apartment later, and even in the tub after all that) they had discussed many things, big things, wow things. However, a decision about the house had not been made. Yes, Luke did say he bought it for her and (his hope of) their budding family… but before Lorelai could give her full and content reaction to his romantic gesture, he had ranted on quickly to his main point—that he had rescinded the offer and backed out because of the 'what about the kids' debacle. And so her excitement over the house was soon overshadowed by her excitement over the kids.

And as Lorelai sat at the counter, her pondering and contemplating almost complete, she got Luke's attention to refill her now empty cup. When he gave her a nod indicating he'd be over, she smiled back and glanced away. Lorelai's eyes darted to the window separating the diner from the Soda Shoppe, her eyes landing on Taylor.

If she could she would have jumped from the stool at that very moment and bounced right into that damn shop (because spelling it with two 'p's and an 'e' is just ridiculous, as Luke frequently argued) and fought with Taylor until he would have complied with her request of taking back the house. But she knew that her 'talk' with Luke proved, above everything, that they actually needed to _talk_ about anything concerning houses, offspring, jewelry, questions, or anything else concerning the two of them and the idea of 'life altering'. So Lorelai restrained herself from hauling ass into that Soda Shoppe and making a romantic gesture for her best friend, fiancée, future husband, and so on; instead, an expectant smile started taking shape on her lips; and at that moment, Luke had made his way to his side of the counter, coffee pot in hand.

Filling her cup without hesitation, he met her gaze, matching her enamored smile with a grin of his own, "What's up with you?"

Lorelai ducked her head, trying to hide her growing smile from other watchful eyes. When she looked back up at Luke again, though, her smile had softened, yet her eyes seemed serious.

"What are we going to do about the Twickham house?" she asked in a hushed tone.

Luke placed the coffee pot down clumsily. He took a moment to study her expression, her features, her eyes in particular, before answering in an even quieter tone (not wanting any other nosy ears to hear, but also just because he was definitely not expecting _that_ to come out of her mouth right then), "Well, um—do you want it?"

She nodded slowly; their gaze was not lost even for a second.

"You're sure you want us to live in the Twickham house?" he asked once more, his voice still just above a whisper. The two knew they had formed an unspoken agreement the night before; the feeling was there fresh from the tingling in their toes, to the comforting and exciting butterflies in their stomachs, to the thought that on Lorelai's hand sat an engagement ring—it was all so real. But they knew they had to _verbally_ decide the Twickham house was for them; had to do it immediately, too—seeing how insistent Kirk was—even if they had to talk about it in the middle of the diner.

Lorelai grabbed one of his hands that lay somewhat limp on the counter with both of hers and gave it a good squeeze. Luke could feel the diamond from the upside down ring squeeze into his skin, indenting softly, which only made his smile broaden. "If you still want it, then I'm absolutely positive."

"I want it, Lorelai," he said deeply, seriously, before he began to ask tentatively: "but what about—" But she cut him off, shaking her head.

"I'll always love my house, but I've grown up and out of that part of my life," she said with a shrug, "We need a home that's ours."

It was all said plainly enough, but it held such meaning for the two of them—they didn't need any more reassurance than that.

Once again, his smile broadened for possibly the fiftieth time since she came down from upstairs. She loved how his grin dimpled his cheeks slightly. "Well, okay then," he said a bit louder, standing up a bit taller then.

Lorelai, however, held onto his hand and pulled herself up with him, pushing off the footrest of the stool and leaning her stomach into the counter for support. She placed a soft and lingering kiss against his lips, savoring, and mumbled, "I'll take care of it then, on the way to work," against his skin.

Luke pulled back, a glimmer of question or curiosity in his eyes, she couldn't quite tell; though in his mind he had no doubt that she would in fact take care of it. She was Lorelai Gilmore after all, he reminded himself—_she can talk anybody into anything… even if that did mean talking her way through mountains of paperwork and legal documents and $250,000 down payments._

Lorelai pulled back off the counter and smiled at Luke. In a raspy voice he responded, "Well get the hell out of here then," and he kissed her quickly before she hopped off her stool and made her way to the door. Just before she opened it, however, she paused and turned to give him one last look, finding him staring intently at her, his eyes had the same glint in them from the late hours of the previous night… and from the early hours of the morning. And just before she could make a clear exit from the diner—

"Lorelai, dear," Patty's voice startled her as she dragged out her name painfully.

Luke gave her a sympathetic chuckle as he turned back around to walk into the kitchen. Lorelai sighed and turned to Patty, not surprised to see Babette seated next to her, both looking exceptionally happy and expectant.

"Hi ladies," Lorelai said with a toothy grin. She knew exactly what was coming.

"How are ya doll?" Babette asked wildly.

_Here it comes_, Lorelai thought and spoke with another sigh in her tone, though she did her best to carry a smile. "Oh I'm doing okay but I was actually just on my way to the Inn and I'm already a little late—"

"Oh we _know_ dear," Patty said with a wink, "you two were upstairs for quite some time today. And we've already spoken to Luke about it but, he doesn't say a word," she said, clearly and genuinely distraught.

Lorelai smirked but dipped her head to hide it. "Yeah, well, you know him…"

Patty's distraught tone changed instantaneously to her usual omniscience one, a sly smile filling her face, "But you're absolutely _glowing_—either you've got the best facialist next to Jessica Simpson's or," she said leaning forward to place a large hand on Lorelai's forearm, her voice deepening suggestively as she continued, "Luke must be one hell of a lov—"

And at that moment, only to reinforce her point with a good squeeze, Patty had actually grabbed Lorelai's hand, fully clasping it in one quick swoop. Luckily, Lorelai realized what she was doing and balled her hand into a fist just as Patty's hand made her way around her (now shield) ring. But even after concealing it from Patty's touch, she still let out a short gasp and ripped her hand away, then proceeded to wipe at her left wrist, claiming that there had been a "bug".

Both older women leaned back in their chairs, hands on their chests, and eyed her with concern and amusement.

Lorelai backed towards the door as she brushed dramatically at her hand; then twisting them nervously around each other she let out an awkward laugh, "Damn thing," she said exasperated, "But, um, I should go now. I'm really, really late. I'll see you two later!"

And with that, she lunged out the door. She needed to find Taylor.

* * *

_TBC… _**Feedback is a beautiful thing. Ideas, suggestions, anything at all... I love it and it helps. Trrrrust me on that one.**  



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